Bomb deal worth billions to give Tucson big boost

A drawing depicts the GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II, a new weapon that will provide a substantial economic boost to Tucson through work on the program at Raytheon Missile Systems.

Raytheon's new program to develop a small guided bomb for the
Air Force will keep hundreds of engineers in Tucson busy for years
and could be worth more than $2 billion over time, company
officials said Tuesday.

The Air Force announced earlier this month that Tucson-based
Raytheon Missile Systems and its partners had won a $450 million
contract to develop its GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II (SDBII) for
manufacturing.

Raytheon beat out a team led by Boeing Co., which has been
producing the initial version of the Small Diameter Bomb since
2006.

Raytheon Missile Systems President Taylor Lawrence called the
contract award "a terrific win" for the company during an online
press briefing.

Raytheon officials said the keys to the company's winning design
were its advanced "tri-mode" target seeker, its 100 percent record
in more than 20 test flights and its early emphasis on ease of
production.

Raytheon was seen as something of a dark horse in the
competition for the SDBII, but company officials felt confident
during the four-year development process.

"We see ourselves as a seeker house, so we felt this program was
right in our wheelhouse," said Harry Schulte, vice president of air
warfare systems at Raytheon Missile Systems.

Raytheon's GBU-53/B incorporates an improved seeker that
features three modes of operation: millimeter-wave radar, uncooled
imaging infrared - a type of thermal imaging - and semiactive
laser. The system also uses anti-jamming Global Positioning System
satellite navigation.

The roughly 6-foot-long bomb also can be retargeted in flight
via a two-way data link, and it has advanced target-recognition
technology that allows it to search and catalog "target-like"
objects.

The combination allows the SDBII to hit moving targets in any
weather. Boeing's SDBI, designed to hit stationary targets, uses
inertial navigation and GPS for navigation and targeting.

The uncooled infrared seeker offers immediate attack options
compared with cooled seekers, which have cooling units that must be
switched on before targeting, said Tom White, Raytheon's SDBII
program director.

White said about 300 Raytheon workers, mainly in Tucson, will
work on the SDBII program through the manufacturing development
phase through 2016.

The system is expected to reach low-rate initial production as
soon as 2013, though White said some delays in the F-35 development
program may affect the SDBII rollout.

The SDBII program calls for production of about 17,000 bombs
through 2018 and is expected to be worth more than $2 billion from
development through production, White said.

The Pentagon expects a price tag of between $61,000 to $81,000
for each production bomb, not including development costs, he
said.

The SDBII's seeker will be made in Tucson, while other elements
will be made at partner companies. Final assembly will take place
in Tucson, where about 50 workers will handle the program in
long-term production, White said.

The weapon initially is designed to be carried internally on the
stealthy F-35B/C Joint Strike Fighter and externally on the F-15E
Strike Eagle.

In the future, Raytheon said, the SBDII can be adapted to a
variety of aircraft, including the F-16 fighter, the A-10 attack
jet and the MQ-9 Reaper attack drone.